Diseases of Tumblers. 
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late-bred hens, but may seize on any weakly birds at the approach of cold weather. The first 
symptoms are usually a loose, rough, and drooping appearance of the plumage, with green and 
watery excrements, the bird at the same time losing nearly all appetite for its usual food. We 
cannot say we know of any certain cure, the mischief being evidently a debilitated condition 
which cannot supply the large amount of blood needed to form the new plumage ; but it will not 
be surprising if we say we have had most success by giving artifically-nourishing food. Make pills 
of soft bread the size of peas, soak them in boiled milk, and give a dozen of them every second 
day, rolling half of them in flower of sulphur, and giving the rest without, and letting the bird 
on the alternate days have its choice of the usual food, but adding a little hemp-seed, canary- 
seed, and millet as a relish. Feed thus for about eight days, and if by that time the evacuations 
have not assumed a more healthy character, give about a quarter of a teaspoonful of castor-oil, 
after which feed with the pills for a week more, and then cease them and give the usual food, but 
always till recovered giving only boiled milk cold to drink instead of water. 
A very similar disease, if not the same, is apt to attack the young birds during their first 
moult, and is so common as almost to deserve the name of a distemper. The symptoms are much 
alike, but the difference in the evacuations is, if possible, still more marked, and the vent may 
often be seen highly inflamed, corroded, and even hermetically closed by the irritating discharge, 
if not attended to. Hence the first step is to cut off all the feathers round the vent close to the 
skin, not plucking them as some do, as such would increase the already inflamed state of the 
parts. To tempt the bird to eat, some wheat, rice, hemp, and linseed, may be added to its diet, 
and, if it still refuses to feed, it should be fed alternately with a soaked pea and one of the bread 
pills already mentioned, until its crop is about half full. Besides this, however, we would give 
cod-liver oil as follows : — Boil rice in milk, and, after squeezing out all the milk possible, add 
about equal parts of flour, and about one-fourth of the whole cod-liver oil, mixing it into a stiff 
paste. Make this into pills the size of peas, and give six every second day for ten days, letting it 
have its ordinary food besides if it will eat it, and, if not, feeding it on bread pills and soaked peas 
as directed, but always cold boiled milk and no water to drink. If after a week there seems no 
improvement, we would boil an egg hard, chop it up with bread crumb, and make it into pills the 
same size as the others, giving four twice each day for another week, dipping them in cod-liver oil 
before administration. By these last pills we have saved more birds than by any other plan we 
could devise, sometimes rolling one pill out of the four in sulphur. The object of all the treatment 
is to increase the strength of the bird, while correcting the bowels ; and it is generally found that 
if these can be got into a healthy state before the patient has become too weak, recovery follows. 
Sometimes the debility is so great that the bird appears scarcely able to carry its own tail, which 
droops and appears a great encumbrance. When this is so the tail should be plucked, which not 
only gives the patient more ease and freedom, but often seems to produce a really beneficial effect 
by increasing the circulation of the blood, and to hasten the recovery of the bird. We have seen 
this so often, and are so sure of the fact, that we should recommend the operation in all cases as 
far as the disease alone is concerned ; but it unfortunately happens that a tail so plucked often 
comes with only two colours instead of the standard three, and, perhaps, even of a bluish tinge, so 
that we would only advise it where clearly called for. To avoid the evil results, some fanciers cut 
off the tail-feathers close to the root instead of plucking them ; and this equally relieves the bird 
of its weight and gives it freedom, but has not the beneficial effect in relieving that stagnation of 
the blood which we believe to be one cause of the disease. 
We know of no other diseases to which Short-faced Tumblers are subject more than other 
pigeons. Wing-disease they are comparatively seldom troubled with. 
